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First Impression: When I first opened the box (gift from my sister) I was very suprised at the overall shape of the thing. The narrow base of the blade that flares out at first concerned me especially when chopping. In the hand it felt very forward heavy but still lively in the hand. Its a pretty thick blade at 1/4 inches and was thicker than I originally thought it was going to be. The handle felt a little wide but I plan on sanding it down just a bit to get it to fit my hand better. Fit and finish were good, the handles matched up well to the blade with no spaces and only a little tang exposed in places. The blade came very sharp with even clean grinds right out of the box. There is a black coating on the sides of the blade but the spine is polished which I found very appealing. Overall I was suprised and very pleased as I first inspected it. note: mine did not come with a sheath so I still need to get one for it.

Chopping : I decided to chop some 2/4's with it, I didnt take any pictures at the time I did it and really didnt count the # of times it took so I still need to do some comparison work here. The parang chopped very well, suprisingly well in fact. The weight being at the end of it brings alot of force for chopping and I want to match it up against one of my similar sized khukris as I was just very pleased at how nicely it chopped. I feel it is definatley more of a chopper than a machete style blade that I was expecting. Almost no noticable loss of sharpness and the blade still shaved hair when I was done.

I also chopped down some bamboo with it, I plan on making a tiki bar out of the bamboo and used the Parang to chop it down and then used the Hog Sticker to split it (will get on that later). The parang did very well and many pieces of narrower bamboo succumed to its power in one swipe. Some thicker bamboo took two or 3 chops but I think sometimes it was more my technique than the performance of the parang. When I was done chopping the bamboo there were no edge deformaties but it was a little duller than when I started. Still sliced paper but was not shaving sharp anymore. Bamboo is rough stuff so I figured it stood up pretty well.

Picture of some of the bamboo I cut down and split

Overall: I am very pleased with the parang, the hadle shape is a little different as is the blade shape. I learned that chopping with it is a bit different too. I used it with more of a snap cutting action like with a khukri than a traditional bowie style swing. I found I got great results that way. The coating held up reasonably well for the things I was chopping. I also thought the edge held up well.

First Impressions: This pig sticker is COOL! I love the hand gaurd on the handle, the blade shape and coating make it feel like a pirate weapon of some kind. The blade itself is thin and very flexible. The grind on it was not exactly even so I took it to my belt sander and evened up the grind a bit and put a wicked nasty edge on it. The edge it came with was sufficient but I just had to put a hair splitting one on for the heck of it (this came back to haunt me). The handle is made of blue polypropalyne (supposed to be black but looks blue to me). It feels good in the hand and I really like the lightness of it. It came with a black leather sheath that had a swiveled belt attachment which was nice. Overall I really liked the machete right out of the box.

Brush clearing light chopping: This thing wips through small brush and vines, with the thin blade and quick handeling I had alot of fun clearing brush and briar bushes with it. I chopped some thin branches and some around a 1/4 thick or a bit more, it went through them easily. I knew this wasnt a chopper when I got it (gift from my dad) so I knew the limits of it and stuck to mostly light work for it. The edge held up great through the light tasks and still shaved when done.

Bamboo cutting: This is were my edge tweeking bit me in the arse I think. I put too steep an angle on the edge and when I started trying to cut down bamboo it blazed through it. I think it even better the parang....at first. After a few chops I was impressed, but after inspecting the edge I noticed alot of rolling and denting. I went too narrow on the grind and I am sure its my own fault for as much damage that was done.

Hog Stickers edge

Parangs Edge

I steeled out the roles and dents to re align the edge. Then i took it to the belt sander and put about a 40 degree inclusive grind on it, I think the one I had before was more like 30 degrees maybe even less. I went back to work with it splitting the bamboo for my tiki bar and it performed very well.

Overall: I really like the Hog Sticker and I feel if I hadnt reduced the grind from original so much I would not have seen the damage from bamboo cutting that I saw. I still feel there would have been a little damage as the 420HC steel just isnt as tough as the carbon steel. Not a big deal as I am using it primarily for brush clearing anyway. The coating has held up pretty well through all the use and I think it holds up better than the coating used on the parang. It handles very well and I am a big fan of it overall.

Condor overall: I think for the money its tough to beat there stuff, I really like all of the knives and tools I have gotten from them. They are for the most part no nonsense working tools ( the hog sticker is the exception with the camo coating but I think its cool).

I will try to get some more pictures of the knives individually at some point as I was doing work and just took some pics with my phone. Questions and comments are appreciated of course!

I love the coating they put on their stainless models--not so much the "mystic camo" (what does a mystic need camo for? ) but the UltraBlac2 coating. It's pretty much impossible to scratch that stuff off unless you do so on purpose. Too bad it doesn't "take" on carbon steel.

I gave my lady one of those Hog Stickers a couple of years back. She loves it.